Bedrock breakthrough in Antarctica

A team of scientists from nine nations, led
by Victoria University’s Dr Nancy Bertler, have made a
huge breakthrough in Antarctica—successfully drilling more
than 760m through the ice to the bedrock, on an island in
the Ross Sea.

The international project has been headed up
by GNS Science, Victoria University and Antarctica New
Zealand.

Dr Bertler, of Victoria University’s Antarctic
Research Centre and GNS Science, has led the team to drill
the 763m long ice core from an ice cap on Roosevelt Island
in Antarctica. They completed the drilling late last night
when the drill bit brought 40cms of sediment up from the
base of the ice sheet.

“The drill cores will provide
the most detailed record of the climate history of the Ross
Sea region for the last 30,000 years—the time during which
the coastal margin of the Antarctic ice sheet retreated
following the last great ice age,” says Dr Bertler, by
satellite phone from the camp on Roosevelt Island.

“I
am thrilled with the team’s success, which has been many
years in the planning—and has involved four summers of
field work doing drill site surveys, setting up the drill
system and camp, as well as the drilling
itself.”

Analyses of the ice core, to be undertaken at
the purpose-built National Ice Core Research Facility at GNS
Science in 2013, will provide important new insights into
how the Ross Sea region will respond to global warming, and
the sediments from the base of the ice sheet might reveal
what the region was like the last time Earth’s climate was
as warm as it is today.

Director of the Antarctic Research
Centre, Professor Tim Naish, received the news by satellite
phone last night. “The team are obviously delighted—I am
extremely proud of them for successfully obtaining one of
most important climate archives from Antarctica to
date.”

The ice drill itself was constructed by
Antarctica Research Centre technologists Alex Pyne and Darcy
Mandeno, working with Nelson engineering firm Pro-machining.
The pair have more than 30 years experience in scientific
drilling of sediments and ice in Antarctica.

The
logistical support for the Roosevelt Island Ice Coring
Expedition (RICE) has been provided by Antarctica New
Zealand, costing more than $1million per year.

Antarctica
New Zealand Chief Executive Lou Sanson says that the support
of such a major field operation nearly 1,000kms from New
Zealand’s Scott Base has been challenging and complex.

“This is a marquee project for Antarctica New Zealand,
and we are very proud of the success of Nancy Bertler and
her team.”

The ice cores will be transported back to
McMurdo station by air, and then by cargo ship to New
Zealand in March. A 50-strong science team from New Zealand,
Australia, the USA, Germany, Denmark, China, Korea, Sweden
and the United Kingdom will meet in at the GNS Science ice
core facility in Lower Hutt to sample the cores in
May.

The team will remain at the Roosevelt Island Camp for
another six weeks, as they pack up and move equipment back
to Scott Base ready for their return to New Zealand.

“We
are in high spirits, and can’t wait to get started on
analysing the more than 100,000 samples that will be taken
from the ice cores,” says Bertler.

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